There is a never-ending and ever-emotional argument when it comes to many games regarding balance. Balance would be the game being fair and everyone having an even footing when it comes to actually playing the game. It is not an uncommon sight to visit a particular game’s forums and see someone talking about, or dare I say complaining, about how Feature X or Feature Y is unbalanced or favors their opponent.

Balance has become so subjective that unless there’s a significant and obvious difference between two things in a game that should be equal, we, the people playing the games, might have a less-than-objective perspective on balance .

For example: your opponent in a real time strategy game (like Starcraft 2) is beating you rather severely while playing a certain faction. My reaction could be any number of things, but most likely would be either:

A) “Oh wow this opponent is good/Oh wow I’m awful at Starcraft 2,” or

B) “Hmm maybe his faction is just overpowered/the faction I’m playing just isn’t very good 1v1 against his.”

This weekend, December 11-12 in New York City, World Cyber Games (WCG) kicked off its third annual Holiday Heroes tournament, focusing on Halo: Reach. Teams had to meet at 9AM for check-in at the Samsung Experience and, soon after, the gaming had begun. There were about twelve teams, and each faced a double elimination. When a certain team was called, it would play a total of three matches, in which two of them were team death matches, and the other was capture the flag. The players had the opportunity to borrow Astro Gaming headsets, providing the best quality of gaming a player can have. All teams were sure to have their game-faces on, considering they were fighting for some pretty sweet prizes.

The XBOX 360 Kinect launches in a little under a month and will have 15 games available at its launch date. But what about the biggest game of the year, Halo: Reach? Even though Reach isn’t compatible with the Kinect, it isn’t stopping zaxy.com to imagine the possibilities of gunning down other Spartans, assassinating them, and of course, t-bagging them.

Starting tonight and continuing on every Thursday night at 7:00pm (PST), some of the Pixelated Geek staff will be online playing Halo Reach multiplayer on Xbox Live and we want you to join us! Just add isevenx to your friends list and request a party invite at 7:00pm (PST).

If you have never heard of Egoraptor or the Metal Gear Awesome series on Newgrounds, I pity you. Actually, I don’t pity you. I DO, however, force you to go watch it right now. Whether you’ve seen the series or not, you will thank me after you watch Egoraptor’s latest animated cartoon. Halo: Reach has been out for only a few weeks, but the hype about the game has been immense. IMMENSELY immense. So to commemorate the enthusiasm about the newest Halo game, Egoraptor has posted his most recent cartoon titled, “Awesome Reach.” Watch the video HERE on Newgrounds. If you’ve never seen the Metal Gear Awesome series (shame on you if you haven’t) or any of Egoraptor’s ingenious and hilarious cartoons, check them out here.

Check out the video after the break. Slight warning: There’s language. A lot of it. And dick jokes. The videos might not be totally SFW, unless your boss likes that kind of thing. In that case, who cares? Watch away!

This week on the Podcast we get Crafty with some Mine Craft. Then say Halo to everyone and Reach out and talk Game Impressions and thoughts on the Soundtrack of Halo Reach. We then get Inside and Debate Intel’s new idea about charging people extra to unlock features on their hardware. Draw some conclusions on the Wacom Intous 4. Then decide what Marvel or Capcom character we would like to see in Marvel Capcom 3.

Topics

Mine Craft

Halo Reach – Game Impression, Soundtrack Discussion

Intel $$$$

Wacom Intous 4

Roundtable: Marvel and Capcom characters we’d like to see on Marvel vs Capcom 3

Halo initially seems an odd choice for a melancholy game. It’s the quintessential fratboy franchise, a series that prides itself on its multiplayer and reliant on a standard-issue “super-soldier saves humanity” storyline. Its central protagonist rarely speaks, its marines are gung-ho types cracking wise in the midst of combat, while the alien antagonists are often comedic both in appearance and attitudes.

Halo and Halo 2 certainly had their tragic moments, given life by the sometimes elegiac soundtrack created by the very talented Martin O’Donnel. Thanks in part to O’Donnel, war-weariness emerged as a major theme during Halo 3‘s bittersweet conclusion, strengthened in Halo: ODST by its lonely portrayal of a battlefield’s aftermath. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that in Reach, it’s inescapable. Read On

This week we stay happy with some upcoming TV Show news. Raul Acapellas the News. We then reach out and say Hello to some Halo Reach. Get our Instant search on with some Google Instant. Roundtable it up about Old Ladies you think is hot. Make a touchdown with some Football talk. Then discuss some Shaqfu with a dash of Hogan. Wrapping things up with a reach out to North Carolina and Atlanta with some live coverage of the Halo Reach launch.

September 14, 2010 will be a day to remember, the launch of the most anticipated game of the year Halo: Reach. Knowing that this will be the last Halo game made by Bungie, they had to celebrate the momentous occasion in a special way. They decided to have a launch party at the unofficial capital of the world, New York City. I had the privilege to be there along with the first three hundred people who were on the line at the Best Buy Theater in Time Square.

It’s time for Things to Look Forward to… Essentially a list of stuff that’s coming out this week. Wowsa this week is certainly TV-rific. The week starts off with a song and dance number with Glee Season 1. If that’s a to sunny for you there is always Charlie and the Crew in it’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Perhaps you’re more of the Indoor type with a little Xbox Live well you’re in luck with Halo Reach. Are you looking to take in a bit of the Theater there is always M Night Shyamalan’s latest flick Devil. If you see something that missing drop a comment or let us know what you’re looking forward to.